He is a Greek God. I was 11 when I first saw Sampras on TV. (I'm 42 now.) I was OBSESSED with him and tennis. I picked him as my favorite before he had won a grand slam and it was so cool to see him dominate the sport as I grew up. He is the reason I started playing tennis. My dad would record the tennis matches for me and I couldn't watch them until I knew the outcome. 🤣 It would be so intense for me if I didn't know he would win. I remember when his coach got sick (brain tumor). I remember praying for him and having others pray too. Was so sad. Pete is such a good soul. He was humble and quiet but when he got on the court, he blew people away. I don't watch or play tennis anymore since he retired. But after watching this, it makes me remember how fun and exciting it is. Gonna get back on the court and play my 9 year old daughter. 🙂 Maybe she will learn to love the sport too.
One of the strengths of his game was his great shot selection. He knew exactly when to hit the safe high percentage shots and when to unload. Love watching how he sets up his points.
Can't see a lot of these now. I find myself in love of tennis since watching Sampris playing in the court. Especially enjoy the moment how he could be able to come back from games or sets down. He's extremely calm and always finds the way through. I consider him as the No.1 in the world forever. In fact, he deserves to be champ at all time.
I didn't even know that I liked tennis until one day doing zaping on TV I saw Sampras play and I was amazed with the beauty of his shots, from there it became my favorite sport but since Pete's retirement I no longer watch so much tennis, he did less to Sampras
@@Rauliki_U_u I have the same experience too. I remembered that was my holiday in Canada, watching Sampras playing for his first US final, and from then I was immensely interested in tennis and became a tennis fan of him. Sampras is always so strong but soft, so aggressive but calm. These are the qualities that others don't posses. Up to this moment I can't find anybody better than him in the court from the day he retires. He's the champion of all champions.
Le plus grand joueur de tennis de l' histoire pour moi. Je ne regarde plus le tennis depuis sa retraite. Quel joueur et quel grand monsieur. La classe a l' état pure.
Sampras used a racquet made in 1988. Given a chance to play with a modern racquet with modern strings, I believe Djokovic, Federer and Rafa would be shocked. His serve, considered by many to be the best ever, would have become nearly impossible to break. I believe Pete's athelicism is surpassed by no one in the sport. Pete gets my vote for GOAT.
@@tazmoirIf he’s beating them on all the other courts then it doesn’t matter if he wins Roland Garros or not. Sampras was the year-end #1 for six years in a row: more than Federer or Nadal. Only Novak did it one more time than Pete, but not consecutively like Sampras did.
@@tazmoir Pete's problem on clay was his stamina (he had a blood disorder), and not his game or completeness. With modern medicines and modern strings, his chances of winning on clay would skyrocket.
He is the finest hard and grass court player ever….. His backhand, serve, volley everything is effortless and beautiful. He inspired current generation….. he is the GOAT. Tennis should be grateful for Sampras….
@@martydav9475 i am definitely not a djoker fan, but put prime pete against any of the big 3 in their prime on a court that plays somewhere between modern and 90's speed, with modern string technology, and i am most definitely not betting on pete. love what he contributed, but sorry.
@@DanielBoonelight That arguement works two ways though: Put Nadal and Djokovic on courts that are better for Sampras - the courts your suggesting would still be slower than the ones Sampras was best on, which would be an advantage to Nadal and Djokovic - and I wouldn't put a penny on those two. Federer is a different story. Peak Sampras against peak Federer on a lightning fast Wimbledon centre court is a sensational prospect: if they played ten times I'd go for 5-5. I think because Federer can serve-and-volley superbly he would hold his serve as straightforwardly as Sampras is likely to (Sampras never bothered too much about breaking serve until the business end of a set).I could see very close sets and tie-breaks aplenty. Fans of baseline bashing/grinding night not like it, but it would be tennis for the connoisseur.
Pete would have blown away a lot of todays players. His power and lightning speed are almost unrivaled and he was constantly on the offensive. I've seen him play live a few times when he was in his prime and he would absolutely destroy the ball.
@@zanido9073 He would easily beat 99% of the players out there today again on the fast courts of the past. They've slowed the courts down 20% since Pete retired especially at Wimbledon so you he would be at a disadvantage today but you're talking about a guy who 14 Grand Slams vs the average players today who haven't won a thing. Pete was easily playing at today's level hence the reason he dominated when he did.
I started watching tennis on television because of him, was my favourite and still is Serve and volley retired with the retirement of the great Pete Sampras 👍
I must say that this whole video is the best profile of a single player's abilities. Just look at this. Nothing else in tennis come close, nothing. It's like an art. But one of a kind and in its own league. And he is making his art better than players having advantage of a current technology, which is absolutely mindblowing. Long live Pete Sampras, we miss you man :-) God bless you and your family.
No better player than the original slam dunk master. Pistol Pete!! It was an emotion, which can only be felt!! I started loving this beautiful game of tennis by watching the King of Tennis playing in his courtyard at Wimbledon..Love you Pete..❤️❤️❤️
Sampras was a silent "sweet" panther killing everyone. Then going away from the scene. Then coming back again for another prey. What an amazing player and a special person Pete was. I miss him dearly.👍👍👍
I also miss him a lot, current tennis doesn't appeal to me, I no longer feel that emotion and that spectacle that Pete provided in each match. I am grateful to have been able to see Pete play, even if only on TV, but it makes me sad to know that we don't see a tennis player like that anymore.
Sampras ,el mejor jugador de tennis de la historia ,para mi.es increible su juego tan perfecto,para disfrutar viendolo ahora,no hay nada ni nadie parecido actualmente.es tenis de otra galaxia,lo admire siempre ,y este extraordinario video lo demuestra,gracias por subir esta maravilla.
The most BRILLIANT ENTERTAINING player of his era; HE was the reason I got into tennis...he was UNBELIEVABLY ATHLETIC but also had the most INCREDIBLE sense of foresight as to WHERE the ball was going to come FROM when the ball was coming to him..
Reading some of the comments on this video is incredibly fascinating. A lot of people are commenting on how much rallies there are here in this video. Either they didn't believe Sampras could rally or that Sampras wanted to rally. This is a classic case of people getting information third hand and came to the decision Sampras didn't do rallies. So, on that score the ATP did a good job putting up this video. Those who watched Sampras all along in the 1990s knew this but the younger generation read all of the negative comments in the forums so it is understandable. Putting aside achievements (as tennis has become all about achievements above anything), when Sampras was on form and feeling good he played the highest skill set of tennis for me. A good mix of short points and long points with a damn good serve. Of course, Djokovic is much more steady from the baseline but doesn't possess Sampras' abilities in the forecourt and the Djokovic smash is not a very interesting shot (I am being polite with that assessment).
Djokovic is a bit more like Lendl, uses physicality and an inmate knowledge of his strengths and tactics to win. He's not even close to Pete in terms of overall skill or natural athleticism. Besides, the big 3 have been helped massively by the homogeneity in surfaces and balls going around, as well as the structure and modern seeding system at play. Big risk taking hitters cannot blow you off court anymore a la Krajicek or Safin briefly in the early 2000s. And no one else (bar maybe Thiem now) can beat them consistently because they are the fittest and best defensive players going around.
Anyone who watched Pete back in the day knew he was the ultimate all court player until arguably Federer came along (I'm not convinced Fed is as unbeatable as Pete was on his day). He could beat you from anywhere.
i share your sentiments about djokovic's overhead . whenever djokovic goes for overhead smash, i see myself in him. a normal just above average tennis player who gets rattled when ball goes above his eyeline and have trouble with it. Sampras was so sure of the overhead smash that it looked like art.
@4browsing Nadal wouldn't dominate clay in any era. No disrespect to him but his success on clay is not just due to his incredible speed, stamina, skill etc. He'd need modern racquets which would be able to generate that ridiculous topspin. Without that it would be quite interesting to see how Nadal would adapt but it probably wouldn't be out and out dominance.
@4browsing Without modern racquets, Nadal's cross court topspin forehand would simply not bounce as much - on any surface. Without that kind of topspin, other players would have a much easier time of dealing with him. Anyway, it's obviously to Nadal's credit that he has used tech to his advantage to craft his unorthodox but highly effective strategy and gameplay. But he simply doesn't have enough old school shots today to indicate success in the previous eras. Maybe he'd find other ways, who knows - but Federer is really the only player who could straddle eras and truly different court speeds. Nadal is effective on primarily slower courts of today - he doesn't have a single ATP finals title yet.
Still the greatest Grass/ Fast court player that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime!! Absolutely Panther like on the court, and great shot making / volleying skills !!
He always knew what to do, in every strike, not just waited to see what the opponent proposed. The greatest champion. He had to leave to make room for the B3
Oh man, how many Wilson tennis rackets were sold by this player. Everyone wanted to play like that. I was one of them and it was a great time. Thank you Peter Sampras😊
Pete Sampras aka Pistol Pete aka King of swing. He is the greatest player of all time and im a Agassi fan. Hats of for Sampras for all the great tennis you produced 🙏.
"He is the greatest player of all time" Greatest of his era for sure and still such a joy to watch, but come on please remember that clay is a thing. ;)
To quote a TV commentator of a match Sampras vs. Agassi at Wimbledon back then: „Sampras will be walking on water next.“ Thanks for those highlights. Brings back memories. 🙂
On the surfaces of that era, I tend to agree with you. His game was tailored for those fast surfaces. On the modern, slower surfaces he wouldn't be as effective. It's hard to compare across eras because of the ever changing surfaces and technologies. Heck, if they made all the players use wooden rackets, I wouldn't bet against McEnroe.
@@zanido9073 Sampras would beat Sinner in straight sets. I don't even see a way Sinner beats Sampras. Sampras has better footwork, much bigger serve, bigger forehand, bigger backhand, better volleys. And 14 grand slams.
Just remember the Goat Sampras was using almost 20 year old racquet technology in 2002 and refused to switch. His serve now would be more bombs than the US Air Force.
when i was young (12-13) i never liked Sampras, mainly because he prevented Agassi from many Slams and titles , but today i must admit he was such an incredible player , an esthete, an athlete, whose talent was not far behind Federer and one of the very best to ever play the game. When you see these points, and you add his serve that was one of the best ever, you understand the enormous player he was.
@@CarlosM333 It mostly has to do with the passage of time. Most people that make comments are from a younger generation. They've never watched Pete Sampras play a full match. Young people believe their generation is the greatest at everything. I was guilty of it to, but I am 64 now and have learned a little bit.
I remember those years. Sampras vs Agassi a once a generation battle. Today is Federer and Nadal & Djokivic. Talk about spoiled. The fans of the sport I mean are spoiled by so much talent. Also that this is recorded for us to watch. Sampras in his prime was a whole new level.
@@6Whodini With the modern equipment, and slower, higher bouncing surfaces won't see very many serve and volleyers at all. The 90s was the last era of them.
@@hippojeff Yup. The organizers wanted longer points as the public wanted to see more of that. Pity the sport went too far in that direction, and now there are almost no serve and volleyers left.
Sampras was so quick, so strong. In Maiami SF 2001 Sampras was low, but he beated new gen Hewitt, future No 1, who would beat young Nadal twice at AO. I think prime Sampras is the Goat.
@@frankmclain3634 No.the reason is that Hewitt had passing shots.Since 2000 we have Safin,Hewitt,Agassi - tennisplayers with great return und great passing shots.Before 2000 -only Agassi was able to play passing shots that well
Some players have served with more velocity, and some players might even have had more aces but Sampras is the greatest server of all times. I have never seen any player with a deadlier second serve
Great to see a best of on this amazing player! I watched so many of his games when I was younger. However, I'd have loved to see more of his volley and net game. Is a bit weird that the best-of of such an offensive player mainly shows baseline strokes and passing shots and such.
What an athlete . His game was offensively based but he could also hit offensive shots while showing great defense skills in short spurts when needed .
Notice how all these shots are when Pete is returning serve? That's cause his greatest shot - his serve - was just too unstoppable so all those highlights would thousands of aces. Incredible work ethic, athleticism, net skills and a master strategist.. Pete's the best
I actually changed my play style to one like Sampras's after my first year of high school. I watched probably a hour of highlights of him not really growing up in his era. The thing that amazed me the most is he goes to the net for no reason, dude just decided randomly "hey i'm going to go to the net" it worked.... it worked so well. I told my tennis coach what I was going to do and he pretty much said "it's going to take a lot of practice to be able to just decide you want to run up to the net any time you want" So luckily one of the best players in the state was on my team and I practiced it on him. I got three games on him one time and was proud enough of that. If you're in high school this play style works incredibly well. I frustrated everyone I played, most coaches teach to go to the net when someone kind of shanks a ball, hits a slow shot back, whatever, or not to go to the net at all. We ended up winning state that year our division had all but two of the private schools in the state in it.
At 04:35 corner to corner, let's see who blinks first. This rally is like playing noughts and crosses on a tennis court. Sampras and Agassi did more of these types of rallies than any two other players I have seen. Totally different type of rallies to Djokovic v Murray for instance.
Pete had the best weapons in the game. Big serve, big forehand, killer backhand, volley, athleticism... Pete in his prime could take on any player on any surface, except clay.
@@toddjohnson271 i dont think so.. Djokovic Is Great but Sampras was Better. But we are joking: a special league with all the best players in the history. It would be a Dream:)
Prime Pete could easily take on big 3. In fact in exhibitions he stood toe to toe with Prime Fed, even though he was already out of tennis for a good 5+ years... Prime Pete was the most dominant player in the history of the sport. 6 CONSECUTIVE year end #1 rankings... Absolute beast in his prime.
When I was starting to play tennis McEnroe and Sampras were my inspiration. I would have loved to see a matchup between Federer and Sampras in their prime. Props to the last true serve and volley player.
"Pistol Pete". Not as artistic as Roger but as effective as him. Superb shot making. Pete rightly deserves to be one of the greats of the game. At 0:29 against Edberg is the best of all for me here.
In my humble opinion Pete Sampras was and still remains the Greatest Grass/ Indoor/ Fast Court player the World has ever seen- the guy had absolutely everything!!
Those are great points, but they are highlights. Tennis in the 90's outside of clay was way too much of a servefest. The vast majority of points were aces, service winners or a weak return to set up a volley winner. Arguably things have been slowed down TOO much, but it is still better than back then, IMO. And this is coming from someone who has been a tennis fan since the mid 80's.
@@TheRealBlueSwan so you mean we should go to the middle. Of the two. Ok good point. Let them speed up the courts a little. At least to the point where both styles exist. Bith styles contrasting each other is one of the best parts of this sport. One sided on each side ok. But how can you say that, wasnt Aggassi baseliner? So those courts had both styles. At least in early nineties and mid nineties. Wssnt yhere a period since 1980,whn the courts were just fine?
@@innosanto Yeah, I totally agree with speeding up at least some of the courts. Grass and indoors should be faster for sure. Some clay courts maybe should be slower. The one thing that was great about 90's tennis was how different the courts played so that different kinds of players dominated clay (grinders), hardcourts (allrounders) and grass (S&V'ers). Speeding up to 90's levels might not be too bad as players just return serve WAY better today. Agassi did so well on fast surfaces because of his return of serve and ability to take the ball early. But this is not happening because organizers want the best players to go deep in their tournament, which is probably the driving force between court homogenization.
@@TheRealBlueSwan so we have to wait until nadal and djokovic win 35+ slams on slow ass surfaces to go back to entertaining surfaces? That seems to suck, and this is coming from a nadal fan.
Pete Sampras: Ο πάνθηρας του τένις. Ύπουλος, κρυψίνους, εσωστρεφής, κοινωνικά μονόχνωτος, τηλεοπτικά αδέξιος αλλά αστραπιαία γρήγορος και θανάσιμα αποτελεσματικός. Επιπλέον ο πιο ερωτεύσιμος άνδρας που πέρασε από γήπεδο τένις
Pistol Pete were my childhood hero. I loved his beautiful attacking tennis style. One of the greatest ever.
Or the greatest at least of fast surfaces overall.
Thank you Pete for all.No words to describe how much I love this game becouse of you.
getting old suc**
He was the best ever IMO
My idol Pete !! The best player!
He is a Greek God. I was 11 when I first saw Sampras on TV. (I'm 42 now.) I was OBSESSED with him and tennis. I picked him as my favorite before he had won a grand slam and it was so cool to see him dominate the sport as I grew up. He is the reason I started playing tennis. My dad would record the tennis matches for me and I couldn't watch them until I knew the outcome. 🤣 It would be so intense for me if I didn't know he would win. I remember when his coach got sick (brain tumor). I remember praying for him and having others pray too. Was so sad. Pete is such a good soul. He was humble and quiet but when he got on the court, he blew people away. I don't watch or play tennis anymore since he retired. But after watching this, it makes me remember how fun and exciting it is. Gonna get back on the court and play my 9 year old daughter. 🙂 Maybe she will learn to love the sport too.
I could write almost the same. I'm 41 now. Pete Sampras will be my favorite tennis player of all time.
Yo soy de México, y me pasa lo mismo que a ti. Desde que el se retiro deje de seguir el tenis, fue mi jugador favorito de todos los tiempos.
True Bro, really identified with your story I am 41. After Pete only Roger had very similar style. ❤
Greek?! I thought Sampras was a Spanish name?
Love you
His running forehand down the line was a thing of beauty to watch.
Slam dunk, volley, huge serve, running forehand one of the greatest ever Pistol Pete huge respect from a nadal/agassi fan
What about his backhand? Pretty good and underrated in his prime...
His backhand was ok end solid wheapon not weak like most people think
ppm120667, spot on
@ppm120667 that match was insane... like the Sampras Agassi us open 2001; huge performance by becker he was a great player in 80s/90s
ppm120667 A big yes. Becker/Sampras were always top games but Hannover 96 was clearly from another planet.
He is my favorite tennis player.
His shots are the symbol of champion!
tecnicamente su golpeo era perfecto el tenia el movimiento natural nacio con esa ventaja
His athleticism is off the charts.
A truly amazing player who should be remembered much more often as one of the very greats. He is up there with the best of them.
Top 3 of all time
@@DrMic2112 Where in the top 3 would Pete go? He never won RG, which is a bit of a stain on his otherwise supreme record
#1 FOREVER in my book. ❤
One of the strengths of his game was his great shot selection. He knew exactly when to hit the safe high percentage shots and when to unload. Love watching how he sets up his points.
if Sampras was a teacher no coach could teach him anymore
@@Rauliki_U_u Pete always had a coach
Can't see a lot of these now. I find myself in love of tennis since watching Sampris playing in the court. Especially enjoy the moment how he could be able to come back from games or sets down. He's extremely calm and always finds the way through. I consider him as the No.1 in the world forever. In fact, he deserves to be champ at all time.
I didn't even know that I liked tennis until one day doing zaping on TV I saw Sampras play and I was amazed with the beauty of his shots, from there it became my favorite sport but since Pete's retirement I no longer watch so much tennis, he did less to Sampras
@@Rauliki_U_u I have the same experience too. I remembered that was my holiday in Canada, watching Sampras playing for his first US final, and from then I was immensely interested in tennis and became a tennis fan of him. Sampras is always so strong but soft, so aggressive but calm. These are the qualities that others don't posses. Up to this moment I can't find anybody better than him in the court from the day he retires. He's the champion of all champions.
Can we watch such amazing shots on nowadays tennis court? Pete is my all time favorite tennis player and I never get bored with his match.
These highlights are made great by the incredible skills of the opponents that Pete faced. I never knew just how fast Edberg was.
Sampras was very interesting and entertaining player . It was really fun to see old matches.
Chang was even faster than Edberg
@@nizzam1 Chang is one of the fastest ever.
Edberg with a modern day forehand would compete with the big 3!!!
@@andrewtruscott8515 Edberg with his good old Edberg forehand would do just fine against the "big 3".
Le plus grand joueur de tennis de l' histoire pour moi. Je ne regarde plus le tennis depuis sa retraite. Quel joueur et quel grand monsieur. La classe a l' état pure.
Pete is still my goat. Will be forever. Man was amazing.
Pete Sampras, the great king of tennis, nothing more and nothing less.
Sampras used a racquet made in 1988. Given a chance to play with a modern racquet with modern strings, I believe Djokovic, Federer and Rafa would be shocked. His serve, considered by many to be the best ever, would have become nearly impossible to break. I believe Pete's athelicism is surpassed by no one in the sport. Pete gets my vote for GOAT.
your GOAT couldnt win even one grand slam on clay. federer nadal djokovic and laver > sampras
@@tazmoirIf he’s beating them on all the other courts then it doesn’t matter if he wins Roland Garros or not. Sampras was the year-end #1 for six years in a row: more than Federer or Nadal. Only Novak did it one more time than Pete, but not consecutively like Sampras did.
@@cloud1stclass372 lol youre delusional if you think sampras is better than the big 3 and probably really old and stuck in the past
@@tazmoir lol ok
@@tazmoir Pete's problem on clay was his stamina (he had a blood disorder), and not his game or completeness. With modern medicines and modern strings, his chances of winning on clay would skyrocket.
The dude is a madman holy shit these highlights are gold
Pete was a beast. He took tennis athleticism to the current level.
Nothing against Rafa, Roger or Novak, but for me, Pete will always be the most fun to watch,
Why not?
He is the finest hard and grass court player ever….. His backhand, serve, volley everything is effortless and beautiful. He inspired current generation….. he is the GOAT. Tennis should be grateful for Sampras….
Yup.
My idol Pistol Pete!! Thank God for TH-cam!!! We didn’t have a way of watching games again in the 90s -unless you record them on VHS !
Pete was always one of my favorite players. This video brought back some great memories.
Pete the ultimate tennis player. What a joy to watch
not ultimate if he couldn't win the french, sorry. he was great, but the big 3 are better.
@@DanielBoonelight Djokovic has nothing like the the great all-court game that Sampras had.He is simply a modern version of Wilander, whom I saw.
@@martydav9475 i am definitely not a djoker fan, but put prime pete against any of the big 3 in their prime on a court that plays somewhere between modern and 90's speed, with modern string technology, and i am most definitely not betting on pete. love what he contributed, but sorry.
@@DanielBoonelight That arguement works two ways though: Put Nadal and Djokovic on courts that are better for Sampras - the courts your suggesting would still be slower than the ones Sampras was best on, which would be an advantage to Nadal and Djokovic - and I wouldn't put a penny on those two.
Federer is a different story. Peak Sampras against peak Federer on a lightning fast Wimbledon centre court is a sensational prospect: if they played ten times I'd go for 5-5. I think because Federer can serve-and-volley superbly he would hold his serve as straightforwardly as Sampras is likely to (Sampras never bothered too much about breaking serve until the business end of a set).I could see very close sets and tie-breaks aplenty. Fans of baseline bashing/grinding night not like it, but it would be tennis for the connoisseur.
@@DanielBoonelight this comment was purely a subjective viewer's perspective. I couldn't give a toss about the big 3's extremely contrived results.
Pete when he played his best tennis looked like the god of tennis sports!
Wow. I had forgotten what an awesome volleyer this man was. And that backhand was pure gold
Pete would have blown away a lot of todays players. His power and lightning speed are almost unrivaled and he was constantly on the offensive. I've seen him play live a few times when he was in his prime and he would absolutely destroy the ball.
No shot. He'd be lucky to make top 20 in current era. The level of athleticism and technical prowess has just increased over time.
@@zanido9073 He would easily beat 99% of the players out there today again on the fast courts of the past. They've slowed the courts down 20% since Pete retired especially at Wimbledon so you he would be at a disadvantage today but you're talking about a guy who 14 Grand Slams vs the average players today who haven't won a thing. Pete was easily playing at today's level hence the reason he dominated when he did.
Pete was a silent killer! Masterfully orchestrated match points.
Pete was so dominating. My tennis hero of all time!
He was my best tennisman of the 90's ! The zidane of tennis
Great both.
Exact friend, very good comparison the two had a beautiful and effective game
Pura clase es verdad
this made me happy
My favorite player. All time.
Je ne m'en lasse pas de le voir jouer
I started watching tennis on television because of him, was my favourite and still is
Serve and volley retired with the retirement of the great Pete Sampras 👍
Such a pleasure to watch him play! He had everything. Natural killer, moved like some tiger!
Pure class.
@c fedyszyn oh man he is a Leo, which means Lion
Se movia agazapado es verdad ..nadie como el gran Pete
I must say that this whole video is the best profile of a single player's abilities. Just look at this. Nothing else in tennis come close, nothing. It's like an art. But one of a kind and in its own league.
And he is making his art better than players having advantage of a current technology, which is absolutely mindblowing. Long live Pete Sampras, we miss you man :-) God bless you and your family.
Nadal >sampras
Magisches Tennis!Niemand,absolut niemand ist in der Lage,derartiges auf den Platz zu zaubern❤!
The greatest ever to play the game of Tennis
Petros was amazing to watch. One of the biggest legends of the game.
What a king. The guy was just a pleasure to watch
All-time best tennis. Precisely placed shots and not just endless exchanges like the stars of recent years.
No better player than the original slam dunk master. Pistol Pete!! It was an emotion, which can only be felt!! I started loving this beautiful game of tennis by watching the King of Tennis playing in his courtyard at Wimbledon..Love you Pete..❤️❤️❤️
Sampras was a silent "sweet" panther killing everyone. Then going away from the scene. Then coming back again for another prey. What an amazing player and a special person Pete was. I miss him dearly.👍👍👍
I also miss him a lot, current tennis doesn't appeal to me, I no longer feel that emotion and that spectacle that Pete provided in each match. I am grateful to have been able to see Pete play, even if only on TV, but it makes me sad to know that we don't see a tennis player like that anymore.
@@Rauliki_U_uThat's just the nostalgia talking.
Sampras ,el mejor jugador de tennis de la historia ,para mi.es increible su juego tan perfecto,para disfrutar viendolo ahora,no hay nada ni nadie parecido actualmente.es tenis de otra galaxia,lo admire siempre ,y este extraordinario video lo demuestra,gracias por subir esta maravilla.
agreeeeeed
COMPARTO TU OPINION.. PARA MI TAMBIEN ES EL MEJOR DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS..
PETE SAMPRAS 🙂💪
So und nicht anders ist es!
His games are masterpieces of the sport. You want to watch even if you know the outcome.
Pete's running forehand was off the hook. Sheer gold!
When Pete's game is on to me he's the greatest ever!!
Got to love Pete's expressions after hitting these great shots! 😂😍
He truly enjoyed playing the game! ❤
I started playing in early 90s. Pete Sampras quickly became my fav player. From his racquet to serve 🎾 🐐 ❤️
Love the way Pete gets up and is ready for the next hit on that last point
The most BRILLIANT ENTERTAINING player of his era; HE was the reason I got into tennis...he was UNBELIEVABLY ATHLETIC but also had the most INCREDIBLE sense of foresight as to WHERE the ball was going to come FROM when the ball was coming to him..
Reading some of the comments on this video is incredibly fascinating. A lot of people are commenting on how much rallies there are here in this video. Either they didn't believe Sampras could rally or that Sampras wanted to rally. This is a classic case of people getting information third hand and came to the decision Sampras didn't do rallies. So, on that score the ATP did a good job putting up this video. Those who watched Sampras all along in the 1990s knew this but the younger generation read all of the negative comments in the forums so it is understandable.
Putting aside achievements (as tennis has become all about achievements above anything), when Sampras was on form and feeling good he played the highest skill set of tennis for me. A good mix of short points and long points with a damn good serve. Of course, Djokovic is much more steady from the baseline but doesn't possess Sampras' abilities in the forecourt and the Djokovic smash is not a very interesting shot (I am being polite with that assessment).
Djokovic is a bit more like Lendl, uses physicality and an inmate knowledge of his strengths and tactics to win. He's not even close to Pete in terms of overall skill or natural athleticism. Besides, the big 3 have been helped massively by the homogeneity in surfaces and balls going around, as well as the structure and modern seeding system at play. Big risk taking hitters cannot blow you off court anymore a la Krajicek or Safin briefly in the early 2000s. And no one else (bar maybe Thiem now) can beat them consistently because they are the fittest and best defensive players going around.
Anyone who watched Pete back in the day knew he was the ultimate all court player until arguably Federer came along (I'm not convinced Fed is as unbeatable as Pete was on his day). He could beat you from anywhere.
i share your sentiments about djokovic's overhead . whenever djokovic goes for overhead smash, i see myself in him. a normal just above average tennis player who gets rattled when ball goes above his eyeline and have trouble with it. Sampras was so sure of the overhead smash that it looked like art.
I haven’t seen a player as offensive as Sampras. His offense was a killer !
McEnroe. He was offensive on serve and on return.
have you seen dustin brown? obviously worse but you cant get more offensive that that
Well thanks to the ATP with their politics to slow down the game you will never see another player lilke him.
@4browsing Nadal wouldn't dominate clay in any era. No disrespect to him but his success on clay is not just due to his incredible speed, stamina, skill etc. He'd need modern racquets which would be able to generate that ridiculous topspin. Without that it would be quite interesting to see how Nadal would adapt but it probably wouldn't be out and out dominance.
@4browsing Without modern racquets, Nadal's cross court topspin forehand would simply not bounce as much - on any surface. Without that kind of topspin, other players would have a much easier time of dealing with him. Anyway, it's obviously to Nadal's credit that he has used tech to his advantage to craft his unorthodox but highly effective strategy and gameplay. But he simply doesn't have enough old school shots today to indicate success in the previous eras. Maybe he'd find other ways, who knows - but Federer is really the only player who could straddle eras and truly different court speeds. Nadal is effective on primarily slower courts of today - he doesn't have a single ATP finals title yet.
Best offense player of all time
Still the greatest Grass/ Fast court player that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime!! Absolutely Panther like on the court, and great shot making / volleying skills !!
Thanks for the vid, ATP! He was my idol when i was a kid
same here :)
@@LeelooDallasMultipasss tambien el mio, se le hecha de menos =(
@@Rauliki_U_u I'm sorry, I don't speak spanish 🙄
@@LeelooDallasMultipasss If I'm sorry, I forgot to translate it, I said that I also did it less.
physical specimen and what a talent at the court...
his serve was second to none when he was dialed in.
What an incredible diving volley there at the end.
He always knew what to do, in every strike, not just waited to see what the opponent proposed. The greatest champion. He had to leave to make room for the B3
Love the smile on Edberg`s face about a minute in. Such a great point even to lose makes one smile.
Sampras volley and serve was legendary
I don't know his golden age, but I become to love his tennis!
Oh man, how many Wilson tennis rackets were sold by this player. Everyone wanted to play like that. I was one of them and it was a great time. Thank you Peter Sampras😊
Dude had THE sharpest cross court angles, they could draw blood.
thank you so much, Tennis TV. I grew up watching and idolizing Sampras -- to get all these in one spot, you're awesome!
Pete Sampras aka Pistol Pete aka King of swing. He is the greatest player of all time and im a Agassi fan. Hats of for Sampras for all the great tennis you produced 🙏.
Maravich is Pistol Pete
"He is the greatest player of all time" Greatest of his era for sure and still such a joy to watch, but come on please remember that clay is a thing. ;)
Never,ever greatest all time.He got trashed from Hewitt
@@thebigmonstaandy6644 He got trashed once and Hewitt won their four last meetings from 2000-2002. In slams they are 1-1 .
@@suatkayatennis he got trashed 3 times : in 2000 with 75 60,in 2001 76 61 61 and in 2002 with 62 64.
Sampras was my favorite player to watch him and Agassi. They were the last ones with actual tennis etiquette.
To quote a TV commentator of a match Sampras vs. Agassi at Wimbledon back then: „Sampras will be walking on water next.“ Thanks for those highlights. Brings back memories. 🙂
He's the real GOAT. At his peak, he wipes the floor with everyone including the big three.
Some players just have a stroke of genius - he was one of them.
man i forgot how good this dude was! You can see how some of his shots have influenced Federer too
Thus dude may be the goat of fast surfaces. To let loose the clay argument.
Yes, the between the legs shot 😀
The big three owe him a debt of gratitude fo sho'
That's the GOAT. In his prime, he would destroy ANYONE, from any era of the sport.
🤯😱
On the surfaces of that era, I tend to agree with you. His game was tailored for those fast surfaces. On the modern, slower surfaces he wouldn't be as effective. It's hard to compare across eras because of the ever changing surfaces and technologies. Heck, if they made all the players use wooden rackets, I wouldn't bet against McEnroe.
His career highlight reel could be Alcaraz or Sinner's tournament highlight reel. Get real.
@@zanido9073 Sampras would beat Sinner in straight sets. I don't even see a way Sinner beats Sampras. Sampras has better footwork, much bigger serve, bigger forehand, bigger backhand, better volleys. And 14 grand slams.
We miss you Pete ❣️
I can see your magic and elegant tennis in Carlitos now❤
Just remember the Goat Sampras was using almost 20 year old racquet technology in 2002 and refused to switch. His serve now would be more bombs than the US Air Force.
But would it kill children in the middle east like the murderous US air force?
Muneeb I sure thing! i dunno if children would be able to win a point vs prime sampras
@@sdasdssdsdsds2949 😄😂
The ONE and ONLY Pete Sampras ❤
when i was young (12-13) i never liked Sampras, mainly because he prevented Agassi from many Slams and titles , but today i must admit he was such an incredible player , an esthete, an athlete, whose talent was not far behind Federer and one of the very best to ever play the game. When you see these points, and you add his serve that was one of the best ever, you understand the enormous player he was.
Absolutely spot on; add that he was the greatest volleyer since McEnroe, and you've got one fantastic player.
His vertical was insane
Why isn’t he mentioned as much as the big 3? Seemed to have an incredible game from the highlights I’ve seen of him
you have no idea my friend... real goat
@@CarlosM333 It mostly has to do with the passage of time. Most people that make comments are from a younger generation. They've never watched Pete Sampras play a full match. Young people believe their generation is the greatest at everything. I was guilty of it to, but I am 64 now and have learned a little bit.
I remember those years. Sampras vs Agassi a once a generation battle. Today is Federer and Nadal & Djokivic. Talk about spoiled. The fans of the sport I mean are spoiled by so much talent. Also that this is recorded for us to watch. Sampras in his prime was a whole new level.
Borg v McEnroe, Borg v Connors, and Connors v McEnroe too.
marty dav Mcenroe vs Lendl, Edberg vs Becker
Zverev vs Thiem
Sampras vs Becker.
It is the sport that creates that. We already have a very ointeresting new rivalry of tsitsipas and Medvedev.
Forever one of my most favorite players. Growing up, it was all Pete and Andy 👏🙌👍🙏
Very entertaining to watch, sad we no longer have a player like Pistol
Totally agree ....Serve and volley all day long; strong baseline play best overheads ever. I mis the serve and volley players.
@@6Whodini With the modern equipment, and slower, higher bouncing surfaces won't see very many serve and volleyers at all. The 90s was the last era of them.
@@Mzee1084 yeah probably for longer match and ads...
@@hippojeff Yup. The organizers wanted longer points as the public wanted to see more of that. Pity the sport went too far in that direction, and now there are almost no serve and volleyers left.
@@hippojeff the public asked for longer rallies. Of course i dont thinj they asked for what we have now. The moddle ground is the best.
Sampras was so quick, so strong. In Maiami SF 2001 Sampras was low, but he beated new gen Hewitt, future No 1, who would beat young Nadal twice at AO. I think prime Sampras is the Goat.
he did not beat Hewit since their close match at US Open 2000.After US Open 2000 he was no match for Hewitt.
@@thebigmonstaandy6644 yeah that was past his peak. Hewitts resume isn't shit compared to sampras. Some players just matchup better
@@frankmclain3634 No.the reason is that Hewitt had passing shots.Since 2000 we have Safin,Hewitt,Agassi - tennisplayers with great return und great passing shots.Before 2000 -only Agassi was able to play passing shots that well
In 2001 he wasnt just low, he was below zero for. His level, had stopped training.
Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, no time to breath.
The perfect assassin.
Man, I miss that guy.
He was a real deal to all players. The most dominant player i e ver saw!!! He would really demolish his oponnents
I'm Novak's fan and there's no doubt this men would be a force to be reckoned with even today.
Serve and volley out of textbook, the best ever.
Dream matchup......Sampras best server vs Djokovic best return of serve.
I've never known Sampras have so much aggressive in style like this until I saw this. Supreb!
What? He is the attack player.
Some players have served with more velocity, and some players might even have had more aces but Sampras is the greatest server of all times. I have never seen any player with a deadlier second serve
Great to see a best of on this amazing player! I watched so many of his games when I was younger. However, I'd have loved to see more of his volley and net game. Is a bit weird that the best-of of such an offensive player mainly shows baseline strokes and passing shots and such.
Pistol Pete is a legend! What a great player.
What an athlete . His game was offensively based but he could also hit offensive shots while showing great defense skills in short spurts when needed .
His running forehand was a thing of beauty.
Notice how all these shots are when Pete is returning serve? That's cause his greatest shot - his serve - was just too unstoppable so all those highlights would thousands of aces. Incredible work ethic, athleticism, net skills and a master strategist.. Pete's the best
I actually changed my play style to one like Sampras's after my first year of high school. I watched probably a hour of highlights of him not really growing up in his era. The thing that amazed me the most is he goes to the net for no reason, dude just decided randomly "hey i'm going to go to the net" it worked.... it worked so well. I told my tennis coach what I was going to do and he pretty much said "it's going to take a lot of practice to be able to just decide you want to run up to the net any time you want" So luckily one of the best players in the state was on my team and I practiced it on him. I got three games on him one time and was proud enough of that. If you're in high school this play style works incredibly well. I frustrated everyone I played, most coaches teach to go to the net when someone kind of shanks a ball, hits a slow shot back, whatever, or not to go to the net at all. We ended up winning state that year our division had all but two of the private schools in the state in it.
The court surfaces used to be so much fun..
He is for sure in the GOAT conversation!!
Man this was way better than I expected.
At 04:35 corner to corner, let's see who blinks first. This rally is like playing noughts and crosses on a tennis court. Sampras and Agassi did more of these types of rallies than any two other players I have seen. Totally different type of rallies to Djokovic v Murray for instance.
Pete had the best weapons in the game. Big serve, big forehand, killer backhand, volley, athleticism... Pete in his prime could take on any player on any surface, except clay.
and except big 3
@@miloraddjurdjic1695 " big " 3 included
@@silvio2869 I don't think so....and I love Pete. Djoker would beat him. Pete big serve vs Djoker best return of serve would be awesome.
@@toddjohnson271 i dont think so..
Djokovic Is Great but Sampras was Better.
But we are joking: a special league with all the best players in the history.
It would be a Dream:)
Prime Pete could easily take on big 3.
In fact in exhibitions he stood toe to toe with Prime Fed, even though he was already out of tennis for a good 5+ years... Prime Pete was the most dominant player in the history of the sport. 6 CONSECUTIVE year end #1 rankings... Absolute beast in his prime.
The best tennis 🎾 ever have never forget Pete Sampras 😅
Beautiful, thanks for uploading. Lots I havent seen before.
When I was starting to play tennis McEnroe and Sampras were my inspiration. I would have loved to see a matchup between Federer and Sampras in their prime. Props to the last true serve and volley player.
"Pistol Pete". Not as artistic as Roger but as effective as him. Superb shot making. Pete rightly deserves to be one of the greats of the game. At 0:29 against Edberg is the best of all for me here.
I would argue that at his absolute peak-level, he was more effective than Roger.
In my humble opinion Pete Sampras was and still remains the Greatest Grass/ Indoor/ Fast Court player the World has ever seen- the guy had absolutely everything!!
Pete is above Federer
As or more effective at his game
Pete fights matches. Fed does not fight matches.
True 🐐
Won a US OPEN before retirement
Finish great career in style
These rallies are so much more exciting than the attritional 100-shot baseline rallies of today
Now it is full of semi attacking semi defending baseline players.
Those are great points, but they are highlights. Tennis in the 90's outside of clay was way too much of a servefest. The vast majority of points were aces, service winners or a weak return to set up a volley winner. Arguably things have been slowed down TOO much, but it is still better than back then, IMO. And this is coming from someone who has been a tennis fan since the mid 80's.
@@TheRealBlueSwan so you mean we should go to the middle. Of the two. Ok good point. Let them speed up the courts a little.
At least to the point where both styles exist.
Bith styles contrasting each other is one of the best parts of this sport. One sided on each side ok.
But how can you say that, wasnt Aggassi baseliner? So those courts had both styles. At least in early nineties and mid nineties. Wssnt yhere a period since 1980,whn the courts were just fine?
@@innosanto Yeah, I totally agree with speeding up at least some of the courts. Grass and indoors should be faster for sure. Some clay courts maybe should be slower. The one thing that was great about 90's tennis was how different the courts played so that different kinds of players dominated clay (grinders), hardcourts (allrounders) and grass (S&V'ers). Speeding up to 90's levels might not be too bad as players just return serve WAY better today. Agassi did so well on fast surfaces because of his return of serve and ability to take the ball early.
But this is not happening because organizers want the best players to go deep in their tournament, which is probably the driving force between court homogenization.
@@TheRealBlueSwan so we have to wait until nadal and djokovic win 35+ slams on slow ass surfaces to go back to entertaining surfaces? That seems to suck, and this is coming from a nadal fan.
Pete Sampras: Ο πάνθηρας του τένις. Ύπουλος, κρυψίνους, εσωστρεφής, κοινωνικά μονόχνωτος, τηλεοπτικά αδέξιος αλλά αστραπιαία γρήγορος και θανάσιμα αποτελεσματικός. Επιπλέον ο πιο ερωτεύσιμος άνδρας που πέρασε από γήπεδο τένις